2 December 2011
As Pakistan gives the US fifteen days to vacate the Shamsi airbase in southwestern Pakistan, where the U.S. sometimes lands unmanned drone aircraft used to attack militants on Pakistani territory, in the aftermath of the deaths of 24 Pakistan military by a NATO air attack, Afghan officials are saying that Pakistan fired first and provoked the attack:
From VOA News:
Afghan officials say NATO and Afghan forces patrolling near the Pakistan border came under fire before they called in the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Saturday.
Sunday's account by unnamed officials contradicts Islamabad's claims that the attack on two Pakistani army bases was unprovoked.
Rasmussen told Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that the deaths of the Pakistani troops were "unacceptable and deplorable."
Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the air raid was not acceptable and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life. Clinton responded by saying she was deeply saddened, and she promised to work with Pakistan on the issue.
Pakistan has reacted strongly to the airstrikes by shutting down all NATO supply lines through its territory to Afghanistan and ordering the U.S. to vacate an air base in southwestern Baluchistan province within 15 days.
In the port city of Karachi, hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the American consulate Sunday, shouting "Down with America" and other anti-American slogans.
Meanwhile, the nation's army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, was among those attending funerals of the victims. Their coffins, draped in green and white Pakistani flags, are being airlifted to their respective hometowns.
Prime Minister Gilani and top leaders said in a statement Saturday the Pakistani government "will revisit and undertake a complete review of all programs, activities and cooperative arrangements with US/NATO/ISAF." The statement called for strong and urgent action against those responsible for the deadly incident.
UPDATE: 22 DEC 2011 Department of Defence:
The investigation into the 25-26 November engagement between U.S. and Pakistani military forces across the border has been completed. The findings and conclusions were forwarded to the Department through the chain of command. The results have also been shared with the Pakistani and Afghan governments, as well as key NATO leadership.
The investigating officer found that U.S. forces, given what information they had available to them at the time, acted in self defense and with appropriate force after being fired upon. He also found that there was no intentional effort to target persons or places known to be part of the Pakistani military, or to deliberately provide inaccurate location information to Pakistani officials.
Nevertheless, inadequate coordination by U.S. and Pakistani military officers operating through the border coordination center -- including our reliance on incorrect mapping information shared with the Pakistani liaison officer -- resulted in a misunderstanding about the true location of Pakistani military units. This, coupled with other gaps in information about the activities and placement of units from both sides, contributed to the tragic result.
For the loss of life -- and for the lack of proper coordination between U.S. and Pakistani forces that contributed to those losses -- we express our deepest regret. We further express sincere condolences to the Pakistani people, to the Pakistani government, and most importantly to the families of the Pakistani soldiers who were killed or wounded.
Our focus now is to learn from these mistakes and take whatever corrective measures are required to ensure an incident like this is not repeated. The chain of command will consider any issues of accountability. More critically, we must work to improve the level of trust between our two countries. We cannot operate effectively on the border -- or in other parts of our relationship -- without addressing the fundamental trust still lacking between us. We earnestly hope the Pakistani military will join us in bridging that gap.